Planners pen new agenda

New Delhi, April 30: A review of energy prices, including domestic cooking gas and kerosene, and steps to boost economic growth were among the issues flagged by the Planning Commission for immediate action by the next government.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the state of the economy and its concerns were presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the panel’s members. This was the last meeting of the Commission before the new government comes to office next month.

Ahluwalia said he would compile detailed notes of the members of the commission on their assessment of the different sectors of the economy and submit it to the Prime Minister’s Office by May 7.

The assessment will deal with the current state of the economy and suggest steps that could be taken to achieve the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) targets.

“The economy can move up, depending on the policies you follow. In the current (financial) year 2014-15, everybody expects the Indian economy to get better, but that depends on the policies the new government follows,” he told reporters here after the meeting.

In his farewell speech to the Planning Commission, Manmohan Singh said the India growth story was a “work in progress” and there was still a long way to go.

Singh, who is chairman of the commission, made a case for reorienting the organisation to remain relevant in the globalised world.

“With an increasingly open and liberalised economy with a greater reliance on market mechanisms, we need to reflect on what the role of the Planning Commission needs to be in this new world,” Singh said while recalling his long association with the commission.